Sam Verdon commits to 2020 at City Calling Stadium

First Division promotion contenders Longford Town have confirmed that midfielder Sam Verdon has re-signed for the club ahead of the 2020 campaign.

Verdon has been a key part of the Red and Black’s revival over the past two years, with recently installed boss Daire Doyle keen to re-acquire the Dubliner’s services.

“Yea I’m delighted to sign back,” Verdon told extratime.ie. “The main thing was for us to keep the group we had together last year, and it looks like Daire has tried his best to do that I suppose.

“Naturally, you’re going to lose a couple of lads but with Longford not knowing who the manager was going to be, the season finished weirdly I suppose.   

“Daire was asking lads to hold on for a couple of weeks to wait and see who the manager was and in fairness, most did and wanted to be there again because I think we ultimately underachieved last year with the group we had.

“We’re still quite young and I’m delighted to be back and I’m sure there’s going to be a couple of more announcements over the next couple of weeks that’ll see us looking really strong ahead of next season.”

The former St Patrick’s Athletic youngster added; “Penalties are a lottery in fairness but over the two legs I think we had enough chances to win in the playoff.

“In fairness to Cabinteely they would’ve said the same but it’s frustrating. Once you get to penalties, it’s a lottery.

"It’s nothing to do with how good of a team you are. I think the disappointing thing was not winning the league then not coming second.

“That was a big blow and you saw that with Drogheda having two less games. Next year, we need to just focus on how we started off last season and getting back into that mindset.

“We’ll be going into games looking to rack off wins and get the three points. We’ll certainly be going out to win the league next year.

“As we seen last year, the playoffs are a lottery and anyone can beat anyone on a given night, and you don’t want to leave it down to that chance.

“I think I came back and did quite well until the summer and then I don’t know. I had a bit of niggly injury and struggled with fitness then until the end of the year.

“I was happy enough – obviously I would’ve liked to have got more goals, but I’ve scored goals from midfield before with Longford and hopefully I can get more next season.

The 24-year-old finished; “Winning the league is the aim. The Playoffs are a lottery and you’re leaving it down to that chance and in that league, anyone can beat anyone on a given night.

“Obviously you then have to play a Premier Division team if get through the First Division teams which is a different ball game altogether.

“Winning the league is certainly the main aim that we want to achieve.”